The Grand St. Stompers: Do the New York

Late last year, Gordon Au—trumpeter, arranger, composer, bandleader, writer, thinker, scientist, satirist, linguist—sent me the digital files for the second CD by the Grand Street Stompers, Do the New York, and I wrote back to him, “I am listening to DTNY (three tracks in, so far) and I love the mad exuberance and deep precision of the first track—a Silly Symphony, urban and hilarious and wonderfully executed. It’s a pity that the mobs no longer have transistor radios anymore, because each track could be an AM hit.” Having listened to the disc several times by now, I stand by my initial enthusiasms. But I wouldn’t want anyone to think that zaniness overrides music. The compositions and performances are a lavish banquet of sounds and emotions: you won’t look at the CD player and think, “How many tracks are left?” at any point. If you know Gordon Au, Tamar Korn, Molly Ryan, Kevin Dorn, Dennis Lichtman, Matt Koza, Matt Musselman, Nick Russo, Rob Adkins (and not incidentally Peter Karl, Kelsey Ballance, Kevin McEvoy, Barbara Epstein) you won’t need to spend a moment more on what I say. Scroll down to the bottom of this long post for links to Gordon’s notes, purchase, download: let joy be unconfined. But I shall tell a story here. Jon-Erik Kellso has been a very good guide to new talent: through him, for instance, I heard about Ehud Asherie. In 2009, I arri